Jan. 13--Precision Castparts Corp., Oregon's high-flying but little-known second Fortune 500 company, is losing altitude as the aerospace industry stalls.

Precision, the second-largest publicly traded company based in Oregon behind Nike, took hits Monday as analysts downgraded its stock and one of its subsidiaries confirmed Portland-area job cuts.

PCC Structurals Inc. will let go about 40 workers -- 10 percent of its salaried employees -- and a small number of hourly workers, a spokeswoman confirmed. The company had not publicly announced the layoffs.

Aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing, which is laying off 4,500, are suffering as airlines cut back in the global economic slowdown. The fallout is hurting parts manufacturers such as PCC Structurals, which makes castings, forgings and fasteners, employing about 3,000 at four Portland metro-area plants.

Five years ago, those factories employed 1,900. Their work force has grown along with Precision's share price, which rose from below $22 in 2004 to a high of more than $153 in 2007.

The stock closed at $60.49 Monday on the New York Stock Exchange, down $3.33, or 5.22 percent, from Friday's close. Broadpoint AmTech Inc., a national brokerage and research firm, downgraded Precision stock from buy to neutral.

"We expect the aerospace industry slowdown in 2008 to continue throughout 2009," wrote Broadpoint analysts Peter Arment and Josh Sullivan. "We do not think Precision Castparts will be able to avoid the truly daunting macro issues facing the industry in the near term."

Eileen Drake, PCC Structurals vice president for administration and legal affairs, said the company was hurt by an eight-week Boeing strike last year. As a supplier, she said, PCC Structurals must cut back when its customers do.

"Some of the business growth that we had anticipated isn't happening at the rate at which we expected it to happen," Drake said. "It's too soon to know yet whether that's just timing, or a drop in the growth rate or a combination of the two."

Drake said Precision Castparts, which now employs about 20,000 worldwide, doesn't break out what percentage PCC Structurals makes up of its work force or sales. But the subsidiary is clearly a central part of the parent company's business.

PCC Structurals makes engine frameworks and fasteners for the Boeing 787's Rolls-Royce and General Electric engines, for example. Precision Castparts managers said the company does about 15 percent of its business with the aircraft manufacturer. Aerospace made up 55 percent of Precision's business in fiscal 2008, according to company reports.

PCC Structurals also makes products for power-generation companies, the military sector and the automotive industry, which is having its own troubles. It has a plant in Redmond, which won't be included in the round of layoffs, Drake said.

On Monday, New York securities firm securities firm Jefferies & Co. Inc. lowered its rating for Precision Castparts from "buy" to "hold."

Analyst Howard Rubel wrote that earnings per share in the near term are "likely to reflect challenges in the aerospace aftermarket." Revenue, too, Rubel said, is "expected to face tougher comparisons due to lower metal prices."

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